We are located in the mountains of eastern Kentucky on the banks of the Kentucky River where 4 generations of the McGuire family have called home. This is a picture of life as we know it.

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Friday, November 2, 2012

Slowing down

Its the time of year to slow down and think about the holidays that are so near. Not near enough for me as my lil boy Rob and Amoy will be home for Thanksgiving. I am really looking forward to seeing them. We have Thanksgiving at Rodger's sister Tammy's house on thanksgiving day and then I will have a dinner here at the house on Saturday for family and friend here that want to come see Rob and Amoy while they are here. So in the next couple weeks I have to get busy planning dinner and meals to feed the kids while they are home. Rodger is off the whole week for deer season. He and Jason will deer hunt the weekend Rob gets to Kentucky till they have several deer for the freezer then they will be home.

Tomorrow Rodger and Jason will skin an process the deer Rodger got a couple weeks ago and get him out of my summer kitchen.That is if Jason can use his right hand well enough. He has a splint on it because he had an accident at work and broke his hand. Just a boxers fracture and it will heal fast. Its no biggie for him. It rained last weekend and they didn't get that task taken care of. We just got rain from the tail end of the hurricane Sandy that hit the east coast devastating several states. Please keep those folks in your prayers. After the fellers get the deer processed I will need to spend a week in the summer kitchen canning up some of our smaller sweet potatoes. After canning they can just be drained and glazed an served. If you hadn't noticed I can a lot of what I call "convenience foods" for us. There are time in winter if we get a big snow storm we can lose power for several days and the things I can are things that can be opened and just heated up and served with minimal resources. I also need to get some pears canned before they are all gone and get eaten by the deer an rabbits. By the time I get this done I hope the fellers have more deer to hang in the kitchen to cool out. Most likely that will be the end of our season of canning and preserving. Till next year at least.

I finally made my granola today. The recipe I used is great but the idea of toasting the granola in the crock pot was a no go. So I made the granola the old fashioned way. So here is the recipe for granola.

Melt oil and/or butter, stir in honey, vanilla and cinnamon.
In a large bowl mix remaining ingredients except mix ins. Pour oil mixture over all and stir to blend evenly.

Pour granola into a baking pan and put in 350 degree oven till toasted. Stir every 5 or 10 minutes for even browning. When toasted cool add the mix ins of choice and store in air tight container.

This only took about 20 or 30 minutes in my oven as I used a dark pan and it browned faster so watch the granola closely as to not burn it. Below are the mix ins that I used. On the left is dried ground cherries, dried strawberries and dried apples, and in the bag Chia seeds.

IF my plans go as I plan I will make another batch of cookie dough to freeze for later when the kids are home. We always need snacks when the kids are here. Somehow they think they need to eat while they are home. But thas OK, thas what moms do for their kids when they are gone from home too long. I am really looking forward to their visit. I guess I will just stay busy till then.

Remember the orphan kittens I raised after their momma got killed? The black one has disappeared but I still have Possum. When they were little they spent a lot of time with the chickens. So now in the evening when I go out to close up the chickens Possum is usually in the building with them. I have a confused cat that thinks hes a chicken.

During the day when it rains Possum stays all day in the building and sleeps with the chickens. Poor fellow don't know hes a cat.

Not much else happening on the farm, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

1 comment:

Hello Stella, we enjoy your blog and are learning many good and useful things. We are Ted and Joyce and live in north central Arkansas. As voluntary transplants three years ago from Tulsa, OK, we had a lot to learn about country living -- and still do. Last summer I built a chicken tractor to house our BR chicks, which was our first experience of raising chickens. I built three nesting boxes that are 14 inches up from the main coop floor, and I installed an intermediate step at 7 inches to help them step up and into the boxes. The boxes are nice and private with new wheat straw inside. But never mind, our three pullets, two of which have just starting laying, want nothing to do with them. They lay their eggs everywhere but there -- on the floor, in the run, even in the wood crib in the dirt. I didn't know I'd need to "train" them to use the nest boxes! Do you have any suggestions?

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About Me

I'm Stella, and I was born and raised in Eastern Kentucky on the family farm of which I am 4th generation owner. I have raised my 2 sons here as well. And someday they can live the life and enjoy this place as much as I have. I am so blessed to have this place on the Kentucky river with its fertile soil, abundant wildlife and rural serenity. So nice to sit on the front porch in the late evening with my coffee and listen to the calls of the wild and wonder just how the rest of the world survives without this peace and quiet. So grab a cup of coffee or a cold beer and enjoy the read as I share some of the vintage treasures we have from generations past.
Blessings from the McGuire homestead.